Harissa potato salad — batata mcharmla
Potato cubes boiled in salted water and tossed while still hot in warm olive oil infused with garlic, harissa, cumin and caraway, brightened with lemon and finished with parsley: a glossy Tunisian kemia to eat warm or cold.
Ingredients for two
| 350 g | Potatoes 2 medium waxy potatoes (about 300 g once peeled) |
| 35 g | Extra virgin olive oil 3 generous tbsp: the potatoes should glisten |
| 12 g | Harissa 2 tsp, from a tube or tin of Cap Bon harissa, not a mild mass-produced harissa |
| 10 g | Garlic 2 cloves |
| 1.5 g | Ground cumin ¾ tsp |
| 0.5 g | Ground caraway ¼ tsp |
| 60 g | Lemon ½ lemon, squeezed: 25 g juice; the other half for the table |
| 8 g | Flat-leaf parsley a few sprigs |
| 10 g | Fine salt 8 g in the cooking water (1 heaped tsp), 2 g in the dressing |
| 800 g | Water for cooking the potatoes |
| 30 g | Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli) about 10, pitted (optional) |
Method
- Peel the potatoes and cut into even 2 cm cubes. Put them in a 20 cm saucepan (2 litres) with the 800 g cold water and 8 g salt (1 heaped tsp, as for pasta), bring to the boil over a high heat, then simmer gently for 10–12 minutes from the moment the water boils. Test after 10 minutes: a knife should slide in without resistance and the edges should still be sharp. Reserve 30 g cooking water in a bowl, then drain immediately: the potatoes will finish cooking in their residual heat.
- While the potatoes cook, peel the garlic and crush with a garlic press. In a small frying pan, warm the olive oil with the garlic, harissa, cumin and caraway over a low heat for 1 minute, stirring: it should smell fragrant without frying, and the garlic must not colour. Pour into the serving bowl, add the juice of the half lemon, the 2 g salt and 30 g cooking water; stir with a fork to make a fluid, glossy red dressing.
- Leave the potatoes in the colander for 1 minute to steam dry, then add them, still hot, to the warm dressing. Fold gently with a spoon without crushing them: while hot, they absorb the dressing and turn evenly red on all sides.
- Leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to let the dressing soak in. Taste and adjust the salt. Finely chop the parsley and add it with the olives just before serving. Stir once before serving to bring up the dressing from the bottom; serve warm or at room temperature, never fridge-cold.
On your plate
Recipe
346 kcal · protein 5 g · carbs 31 g · fat 21 g
Quantities per person
- 175 g Potatoes
- 17.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 6 g Harissa
- 5 g Garlic
- 0.75 g Ground cumin
- 0.25 g Ground caraway
- 30 g Lemon
- 4 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 5 g Fine salt
- 400 g Water
- 15 g Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli)
Cooking tips
Keeps for 2 days in the fridge. A natural part of a full kemia spread with mechouia and cumin carrots; being pareve, it works equally well before hraimi or chicken. To make it the day before, dress the potatoes while hot, let the steam escape, then refrigerate; add the parsley and olives when serving and take out of the fridge 15 minutes before the meal. If keeping the salad chilled, replace 10 g lemon juice with 1 tsp white vinegar: the acidity holds up better in the cold dressing. Choose a harissa whose heat you know; 6 g makes a milder kemia without changing the method.
Jewish Tunisian kemia: batata mcharmla, potatoes with garlic, harissa, cumin and caraway.